Recorded between 1970 and 1980. Includes liner notes by Alan Leeds and William "Bootsy" Collins.

All songs written or co-written by William Collins or George Clinton.

William "Bootsy" Collins's monstrous and elastic bass sound is one of the defining ingredients of funk. After making pivotal recordings with James Brown and George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic, respectively, Collins launched a successful solo career that built on his outrageous stage persona and the otherworldly, deep funk he helped originate with Clinton. Flanked by his brother, guitarist Phelps "Catfish" Collins, along with keyboard wizard Bernie Worrell and horn players Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, Collins churned out his own opuses in the 1970s and early '80s. The finest cuts from this era appear on BACK IN THE DAY: THE BEST OF BOOTSY.

Loose, goofy, technically dazzling, and (of course) incredibly funky, Collins's music captures the height of the genre's heyday. His best-known jams are accounted for here--the party anthem "Stretchin' Out (In a Rubber Band)," the tight and bawdy "The Pinocchio Theory," and the tongue-twisting "Bootzilla." In between are some surprises, including the excellent "What So Never the Dance," a '71 song cut while Bootsy and Phelps were recording under the name House Guest. Superior musicianship, groove-laden improvisation, and Collins's wacky humor, sly asides, and put-on voices rule the proceedings. This is an outstanding compilation of one of funk's prime movers.